NEW RELEASE
In the midst of war, spending nine weeks directing his play, Conversations in Tusculum, in Kyiv, Ukraine, American playwright and director Richard Nelson kept a diary. Here the mundane, the artistic and the ongoing war entwine in a visceral account of making theatre in a different world at a time and a place where it has come to have a very special meaning.
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A profoundly moving, exceptional, essential story, full of humor, self-questioning, confusions, doubts, fears, heartbreak, and joy, set in the middle of a beautiful, magical city under attack.

Published by Wordville on 15th October 2024
“In this deeply stirring chronicle of making theater in a time of war, Richard Nelson deploys the same sensibility that shapes his plays, moving from curiosity to empathy to invaluable insight. Drama, for Nelson, has always been about creating an endlessly evolving conversation – on the stage, yes, but also with the time and place and people it reflects. Here, that dialogue echoes with a thrilling new urgency. Nelson's Kyiv diaries radiate hope for the endurance and necessity of theater.” - Ben Brantley
"I have never read a theatrical diary before like Richard Nelson's. In describing the process of staging his play, Conversations in Tusculum, in Kyiv, Mr Nelson gives a deeply moving picture of the grit, determination and heroism required to create theatre in a time of war:” - Michael Billington
Wordville is an award-winning independent publisher with offices in London and Barcelona. We publish exceptional written works
about the performing arts.
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Upcoming Events

On Stage and Screen

Empire Skate directed by Josh Swade
​Empire Skate chronicles the colorful rise and enduring influence of New York's skateboarding culture in the 1990s, examining the global phenomenon of the brand SUPREME and the skaters who breathed life into this vibrant world.
8:30pm Thursday June 12
9pm Friday June 13
Sunday June 15
Tribeca Film Festival
Village East by Angelika
181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla
In this intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experience of the counter-revolution that followed, actor and activist Khalid Abdalla (Mnemonic, United 93, The Kite Runner, The Crown) takes us on a surprising journey into his own history, set against a cartography of seismic world events.
12 - 24 August
Traverse Theatre
10 Cambridge Street
Edinburgh EH1 2ED